Rebuilding Lion draw with Dunbeholden

by

January 22, 2024

Photo

Humble Lion’s Roshane Sharpe (right) shields the ball from the ever-pressing Dunbeholden’s Fabian McCarthy during their Jamaica Premier League encounter at Effortville Community Centre in Clarendon yesterday. The game drew 0-0.

Humble Lion's coach Vassell Reynolds accomplished his mission in their Jamaica Premier League football match at Effortville Community Centre yesterday, despite the game ending in a 0-0 draw.

The Clarendon-based Humble Lion collected their fourth point from their two games in the second round yesterday after clipping Treasure Beach 1-0 last week.

The results have been positive for Reynolds, who recently took over from Andrew Price and, according to him, his mandate was to freshen up the ageing squad, which he has already started to do.

Five schoolboy players were in the Humble Lion line-up, which featured 15-year-old substitute Lawshawn Barnaby, and Reynolds insists this will now be his modus operandi.

"One of the first tasks we got was to refurbish the team, but we can't just throw away the experienced players as we have to blend them with the youngsters, and I think we are integrating that more," said Reynolds.

One of the youngsters almost secured all three points for Humble Lion in the 83rd minute, as Central High schoolboy defender Anrick Gordon pulled off a spectacular bicycle kick inside the area, which was well handled by Dunbeholden's goalkeeper Damian Hyatt.

Reynolds was adamant he wants Humble Lion to rack up some points and climb back up the table, as they currently sit in 10th place after 15 games.

"We want to go on an unbeaten run and put some points on the board. We didn't want to lose the game, but, proceeding, we will take three points when we can get it or even one," Reynolds said.

In the meantime, the point for Dunbeholden sees them stemming a two-game losing skid. The St Catherine-based Dunbeholden are in sixth place, and assistant coach Ricardo Smith believes they should have secured all three points.

"We came here for the win, and it was clear that we dominated the game, but the most important thing is that we did not put the ball into the back of the net. Our finishing has been faulty for the last four or five games, and we plan to go to the training pitch and work on that," Smith said.